Attorneys for U.S. Navy veteran Zachary Young accused CNN of withholding key financial documents in accordance with financial discovery during a Election day high-stakes defamation hearing.

Young claims CNN defamed his security consulting company, Nemex Enterprises Inc., by suggesting it profited illegally when it helped people flee Afghanistan during The Biden administration military withdrawal from the country in 2021.

U.S. Navy veteran Zachary Young believes CNN “destroyed his reputation and business by framing him as an illegal profiteer who exploited desperate Afghans” during a Nov. 11, 2021, segment on CNN’s “The Lead with Jake Tapper.”

NAVY VETERAN’S DEFAMATION ACTION AGAINST CNN TOWARDS TRIAL AS JUDGE RULES MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

The photograph of plaintiff Zachary Young was broadcast by CNN during the segment in question. (CNN/screenshot)

Judge William Henry previously agreed with Young’s senior counsel, Vel Freedman, that CNN should turn over sensitive financial information that cable network presented to parent company Warner Bros. Discovery, to determine CNN’s net worth. Freedman claimed CNN has since turned over thousands of pages of documents but failed to turn over cash flow records.

“CNN’s response was, ‘Well, we don’t have them,'” Freedman said Tuesday during the Zoom hearing.

“That can’t be the case, your honor,” Freedman added, noting that tax returns indicate that Warner Bros. Discovery mentioned the financial statements and a business as big as media conglomerate it is supposed to track its cash flow and basic financial information.

“It just doesn’t add up to common sense,” Freedman said.

CNN faces defamation lawsuit over AFGHANISTAN withdrawal story: ‘PROOF OF CURRENT EVIL’

U.S. Navy veteran Zachary Young believes CNN “destroyed his reputation and business by framing him as an illegal profiteer who exploited desperate Afghans” during a Nov. 11, 2021, segment on CNN’s “The Lead with Jake Tapper.” (CNN/screenshot)

Freedman wants an affidavit from Warner Bros. executives. Discovery to say the documents “do not exist” or else wants to see the data.

CNN attorney Charles Tobin argued that the network does not manage its business through a balance sheet, does not maintain a cash flow statement, and suggested that it has been honest and forthright. Tobin also suggested that CNN’s CFO would be able to clarify everything during the filing process.

After hearing from both sides, Judge Henry ordered that CNN is required to “produce everything in its possession, custody or control,” but said there is nothing in the law that requires a CNN executive to produce a affidavit or a declaration that the documents do not exist.

“To the extent that there is any kind of reporting that relates to cash flow that either CNN or one of its officers promulgates to send to Warner Bros. Discovery … such information should be produced,” Judge Henry said.

“If you give something to someone else to do your filing, it’s within your control to get that back from them,” he continued, suggesting that outsourced bookkeeping needs to be transferred.

Judge Henry set a deadline of November 9 at 11:59 PM ET for CNN to produce the documents.

CNN’s segment centering on the suit, which was shared on social media and also repackaged for CNN’s website, began with Tapper informing viewers that CNN correspondent Alex Marquardt found that “Afghans trying to leave the country faces a black market full of promise. , exorbitant fee requests and no guarantee of safety or success.”

DEFAMATION LAWSUIT AGAINST CNN COULD EXPOSE COMPANY’S FINANCIAL SECRETS AS COURT SEEKS TO DEMONSTRATE NET WORTH

Tapper threw it to Marquardt, who said:desperate Afghans are being exploited” and have to pay “exorbitant, often impossible sums” to flee the country. Marquardt then singled out Young, putting a picture of his face on the screen and saying his company was demanding $75,000 to transport a vehicle of passengers to Pakistan or $14,500 per person to reach the UAE.

“The prices are way beyond the reach of most Afghans,” Marquardt told viewers.

No other person or company was named besides Young, who claimed that CNN, by using the terms “black market,” “exploitative” and “exorbitant,” inaccurately painted him as a bad actor preying on people desperate.

Internal communications between CNN employees that were revealed during the discovery process indicated that editors were concerned about the segment but ran it anyway. Other internal communications revealed that CNN employees used profanity and derogatory language when discussing Young privately.

A civil trial is scheduled to begin Jan. 6 before Judge Henry of the Circuit Court for Bay County, Florida.

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